Hello! 

Thank you for visiting my website, I'm honored you are here.  I am one of the lucky ones in that I discovered a joyful spark and nurtured it carefully into a career.  My name is Rachel, and I am a photographer and an artist.

My Story

My name is Rachel Heimerman.  I was born on a Wednesday in May, on a full moon, into a family of Artists.  My Dad is a master carpenter with all the woodshop accessories, my Mother is a glassblower, and my two sisters are creative as well. The family motto growing up was something along the lines of  "Oh, do you like that? Here are all the things to make something similar to that thing you like"  (ie: like the time we spent 2 days practicing writing our names on grains of rice with a fine point sharpie)  It was fun, we are loud and random, and very creative - what's not to love? 

I attended Texas Tech University and graduated in 2010 with a BFA in Photography and a BA in Psychology. During my time here I spent one fabulous summer abroad in London and took an Architectural Darkroom Photography class. I absolutely loved it. I would just hop on and off the tube all day, like a little mole exploring the tunnels and then popping out to take 15 photos, walk 6 blocks, find a treat or a coffee, then eventually run into another tube station. I let my wandering spirit wander wherever she wanted, for maybe the first time in my life. It was incredible.

After college, I spent a year in the Dallas hospitals doing newborn photography.  I still stay current on all my newborn shots, I take sanitation very seriously and clean everything between newborn sessions.  The trick is to have the baby in a tiny milk coma.  Parents continually tell me that I am a very patient person as they watch me meticulously pose the fingertips and toes of their sleeping baby - it's not really about a patience level for me, its about loving my craft and taking the time to set up the scene.  It may only take 1/100 of a second to actually "take" a picture, but I want the picture and everything in it to be up to my standards.  So I wait for the baby to sink into that relaxed sleep then gently stretch out the tiny fingers and tuck the tiny feet under their cute little flat butts.  For those of you who haven't seen a naked newborn in a while, it seriously goes from a big bulgy baby tummy right into the legs - they have no butts.  Its quite adorable and only a few babies have looked more like a frog than a human. But they grow out of it. :)

I then spent the next 3 years working mostly for a combo of other photography companies as a corporate/event/wedding photographer.  This was like grad school for me as I learned how to successfully do this type of work. I photographed hundreds of corporate training sessions, thousands of headshots, keynote speakers, directing and photographing a 500-person last-minute group shot request, game nights, karaoke and trivia, and any idea the event they threw my way.  Eventually, I started booking more of my own gigs and have grown a life from there. I have shot several multi-day conventions at the Drake Hotel in Chicago, Texan Gaylord Resort, Nashville Gaylord, and the Denver Gaylord and Convention Center, and been flown around to Las Vegas, Flordia, Ohio, D.C. and more for other week-long conferences. People like to fly me places so I can take pictures of their events.  It’s fantastic, and I’m lucky to have clients who make a point to invite me back for their next year’s events before the current event is even over. My favorite client that I obsessively tell everyone about is Podcast Movement.  It’s just a week of energetic keynotes, wonderful people, and loads of sound gadgets for sale. It’s a human library of interesting people who love to chit-chat. They do a great job of finding speakers that are making a real difference in the world. It’s very inspiring. I am honored to be on their team. I am quite good at this type of photography and have always had positive reviews from the clients I have worked with. 

In my early twenties, I worked with other photographers as a second shooter in the wedding industry.  And then again, I broke out on my own and pitched myself as the lead photographer. I have easily shot over 300 weddings since I graduated college.  I have photographed big weddings, small weddings, Christian weddings, Hindu weddings, Pakistani weddings, Vietnamese weddings, LBGTQ+ weddings, outside weddings, inside weddings, courthouse weddings, international weddings, weddings down by the beach, weddings in a park, weddings high up in the mountains next to a lake and in the ruins of old civilizations. I’ve photographed weddings in downtown warehouses and faraway fields in a barn. I’ve photographed rooftop weddings during sunset and weddings in beautiful gardens and vineyards. I could make a children’s book about all the types of weddings I have photographed, with all the types of people and how they celebrate - I love weddings, I love the whole day. I grew up with Disney movies, and I am a sucker for those googly eyes.  You can see when a couple has those googly eyes for each other, its endearing. And what is wonderful about all these religions and ceremonies, is that everyone has the same core values they teach their children.  Be nice, be good, and help those who need help.  Many photographers swear they will never shoot another wedding, but it’s quite simple, you just follow the newlyweds around and photograph whatever is happening in their general area. I know my camera inside and out, so I can easily set up scenes and get the picture that I see in my head.  It is more laid back on my end versus my corporate photography life, I have the freedom to make bad jokes and get people to laugh awkwardly.  Or my favorite instruction is simply "Look at each other and fake laugh really loudly"  because even if they laugh quietly, it always turns into a real laugh, and that’s when I snap the picture.  I could write a whole page on my awkward camera instructions and jokes I say during my sessions - but I won’t.  I will save that in-person magic for when you book me.  

At 27, I was also a high-school photography teacher in Texas.  That was a good year, I loved it. It was hard and new, but overall I am proud of this story in my life.  It was a strange role to suddenly be a person in charge of other humans.  It wasn’t a job hunt on my radar, they found me and this website. Wow! It worked, ha. But yes, suddenly I had 150 students to teach photography to, plus the extras who wandered into my room because "they heard I was cool."  Who was I to kick them out!?  It was bizarre, some days the students just sat quietly and did what I told them to.  "Why are you listening to me?” I would think to myself. “I don't know what I am doing with this class or with my own life, haven't you been taught to question authority?” I can assure you I am not the most adulty adult in this building!?"  Classic imposter syndrome. But I just kept inventing projects I thought would be fun.  I think they hated the Kaledisocpe project the most. That one was an elaborate Photoshop idea, and they did turn out pretty fabulous. No, they hated the tape face portraits the most. Oh, my gawd that was funny. And I was honestly very impressed with the images they produced. It was a one-year experience for me, my heart and soul were itching to live out west by the ocean. I finished my year and I gave the principal a “thank you for the job but I need to move on” mini bunt cake.  From that job, I met the art teacher, who to this day is one of my best friends and the most hilarious people I’ve ever met.  One of my other best friends quit her job around the same time, so we went and backpacked around Europe for 6 weeks. When I returned I moved to Chicago just before winter and had a great time there too. The feeling of -3 degrees is wild!  At 29 I packed up my Jeep for the West Coast and road-tripped with my sister for 2 weeks taking our time to see the sights.  And now I live around in sunny California and am based in the L.A. area.   It’s hard to say what’s next.  

Thank you.  You are awesome and I hope your day is awesome.   I saw a Snoopy quote today where Charlie said to Snoopy "Some day we will all die"  And Snoopy replied "True, but on all the other days we will not"  And I fell in love with this dark motivational quote.  So, even if your day is going crummy - its probably not your deathday.  Perk up Buttercup!  You got this!